1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing system, a print control method and a storage medium storing a computer readable program, which can control a print job received from host equipment to be transferred to a printer, and particularly relates to an information processing apparatus, a print system, a print controlling method and a storage medium storing a computer readable program, as a print server that manages print jobs received from a plurality of client computers as host equipment on a group basis and controls the print jobs as a group job to be transmitted to a printer.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, the printer system to which this type of information processing unit can be applied is configured to enable a printer to communicate with a client computer (PC), a server computer and the like, and is configured to store a print job received upon a job processing request from each client in a job spooler in the order of reception and sequentially analyze the print job and print it by the printer.
Furthermore, print systems in recent years are configured such that the job name of a print job and the like spooled in a server can be displayed on a client, and there exist systems that make it possible to specify a print job and perform suspension and termination and even order control of the printing of specified print jobs depending on the authorization of the client by using network utility software installed in the client.
Furthermore, as software operating on clients in recent years, there exist systems that enables batch print, by holding print jobs of PDL format generated by a printer driver without requesting a print server to print them, and transmitting by one operation a plurality of print jobs as a print request to a print server.
However, in the above described utility software of prior art, it is possible to perform order control for print jobs spooled in a server (print server), but it is not possible to group a plurality of jobs and control the printing of the group job so as not to allow other print jobs to interrupt in the group job.
Furthermore, for reducing the load on a network and a print server, it is conceivable that only a print request and job information are transmitted from the client to the print server, the order control is managed at the print server and the print job itself is spooled by the client making a print request, but it is impossible to print by one operation a plurality of jobs split and spooled in both the print server to be outputted to the same printer from different clients and the client, or to specify from a different client the order in which jobs client-spooled in the same group are processed.
Furthermore, when print jobs are grouped, all print jobs to be grouped are not necessarily already prepared, and the user using a client computer can not necessarily make a request for printing a next print job in print order instantly from the client computer in every occasion, and it is conceivable that a print request is made after a considerable time because the user is absent for a certain time. In this case, since printing can not be started unless all print jobs that are grouped are ready for printing, in other words, unless the print jobs are ready to be transmitted to the printer, print jobs spooled in a server spooler at the print server and in a client spooler at each client must keep waiting, but in the conventional print queue, it is a precondition that the print job for which a print request is made is ready for printing and therefore the print job must be transmitted to the printer when turn for the print job to be printed comes in the print queue.
Furthermore, in conventional software that enables batch print, print jobs from a single client can be printed by one operation, but print jobs generated from a plurality of clients can not be printed by one operation.
Furthermore, in a conventional manner, a notification of completion is provided to the client making a request once an output of each print job is ended since the processing of group printing is not taken into account, thus not confirming the state of printing for all jobs printed in the same group and the fact that a set of printing has been properly done prior to provide the notification of completion to each client.
Furthermore, there are disadvantages that if printing fails due to a printer error and the like before it is confirmed that printing for all the jobs in the group has been done, the user making a print request or the server cannot change the printing matter unless all the jobs in the group are consolidated and the client is notified thereof, a quick and flexible response cannot be made to the emergence of such an error, the group print operation remains suspended, and an intended result of printing operation cannot be obtained quickly.
Furthermore, for the single print job, it is taken into account to change the printing matter in print systems in recent years, but it is not taken into account to change the printing matter for the grouping job as described above. Therefore, for the single print job, the ejection side is not a matter of concern so long as PDL is the same even when the printing matter is changed. That is because the print job is internally spooled and printing in invert page order is achieved due to the function of the printer itself. However, it is achieved due to the function of the printer itself only for the single job, and it not yet achieved for the grouping job considered in the present invention.
This invention is designed to solve the above described problems, and it is a first object of the present invention to enable print control that prevents a usual print job from being mixed with grouping print jobs for the same printer even if the usual print job is spooled together in the print server in the case where a plurality of print jobs for which requests for printing are made by a plurality of clients are grouped and then printed.
Furthermore, it is a second object of the present invention to confirm that print jobs whose print operation is ended have been actually printed and ejected by one operation and inform the host computer of each print job that they have been printed by one operation.
Furthermore, it is a third object of the present invention to change the printing matter to another printer by one operation if an error occurs in a printer before jobs to be printed are printed and ejected by one operation.
Furthermore, it is a fourth object of the present invention to provide a mechanism in which a printer performs processing on the print job in the order of reception, thereby making it possible to maintain the proper order of printing even if the printing matter is changed to a printer whose ejection side is different.
Furthermore, it is a fifth object of the present invention to provide a mechanism in which the grouping job where print jobs from a plurality of clients are grouped and printed is specified when a print request from the clients.
An information processing unit as a server of the present invention has;
identifying means for identifying first print jobs with a plurality of print jobs to be grouped and printed in succession and second print jobs to be printed as a single print job, based on print requests received from clients;
determining means for determining whether all print jobs in a grouping print job corresponding to the above described print job are ready if the above described print request is a request for printing print jobs identified by the above described identifying means as the first print job; and
controlling means for controlling the print of grouping print jobs for which it is determined by the above described determining means that all print jobs in the group are ready, while controlling the print of grouping print jobs for which it is determined by the above described determining means that all print jobs in the group are not yet ready to be held.
Furthermore, a second information processing unit related to the present invention has;
job managing means for managing grouping jobs with a plurality of print jobs to be grouped and printed in succession based on print requests received from a plurality of clients, determining means for determining the spooling matter spooling a plurality of print jobs included in the above described grouping jobs when the above described grouping jobs are printed, and transmission controlling means for controlling transmission so that print jobs determined by the above described determining means as being spooled in the above described clients transmit transmission permission information for permitting transmission of the above described print jobs to the above described client, and print jobs determined by the above described determining means as being spooled in their own spoolers transmit the above described print jobs spooled therein to a printer.
Furthermore, a third invention related to the present invention has;
acquiring means for acquiring information of grouping jobs being managed at a management server from the management server managing the order of printing grouping jobs with a plurality of print jobs to be grouped and printed in succession, first user interface providing means for providing a first user interface for specifying grouping jobs into which print jobs for which a print request is to be made are grouped based on the information of the grouping jobs acquired by the above described acquiring means, and print request making means for making a print request including indicative information to group print jobs into grouping jobs specified via the first user interface provided by the above described first user interface providing means.
Other features and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the figures thereof.